Mike Flanagan Will Direct ‘The Shining’ Sequel

‘Doctor Sleep’ will revisit Danny Torrance as an adult.

Danny Torrance will face the madness once again in the big screen adaptation of Stephen King‘s “Doctor Sleep.” Deadline reports the movie is gearing up with Gerald’s Game helmer Mike Flanagan tapped to direct as well as re-write Akiva Goldsman’s original script.

The book is a sequel to King’s widely successful “The Shining” and follows its protagonist as a now grown man who has been haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel ever since that traumatizing winter many years ago. Dan Torrance still has “shining” powers that enable him to provide a final comfort to the dying, but in the new story he meets Abra Stone, a young girl whose “shining” surpasses his own.

Doctor Sleep is being made at Warner Bros., the same studio that released Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining 38 years ago. King has made it clear over the years how much he dislikes the Kubrick adaptation and even produced a miniseries version later to have it done his way. In a 2013 interview with BBC discussing the release of “Doctor Sleep,” he said:

“With Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’ I felt that it was very cold, very ‘We’re looking at these people, but they’re like ants in an anthill, aren’t they doing interesting things, these little insects.'”

That wasn’t the only bit of criticism he shared for the 1980 film. He said of the Wendy character:

“Shelley Duvall as Wendy is really one of the most misogynistic characters ever put on film, she’s basically just there to scream and be stupid, and that’s not the woman that I wrote about.”

Doctor Sleep provides a chance for King to get a feature film he enjoys from the “Shining” series, and Flanagan has proven himself adept at bringing the author’s work to life. His Gerald’s Game was released on Netflix last year, and our critic Rob Hunter went so far as to call it “one of the best Stephen King films.” Flanagan has also gained plenty of clout with horror fans for Oculus, Ouija: Origin of Evil, and Hush.